PNJ Sports Briefs: Pensacola Ice Flyers back at home this weekend against Huntsville

Pensacola's Trever Hertz (14) and Shayne Morrissey (12) battle to get the puck in the goal against Macon goaltender Charlie Finn at the Pensacola Bay Center on Sunday, January 14, 2018. Though Macon won the game 4-2, the Ice Flyers have won three of their last five games and stay in first place with 43 points.(Photo: Jody Link/online@pnj.com)

The next two weekends give the Pensacola Ice Flyers a chance to gain at home.

The Ice Flyers, who face the Huntsville Havoc on Friday and Saturday at the Bay Center, have a two-game lead over Evansville (Ind.) Thunderbirds atop the Southern Professional Hockey League standings.

They will play the Thunderbirds in Pensacola next weekend, prior to the start of Pensacola's annual Mardi Gras week that follows.

It's been a relatively quiet week for the Ice Flyers as far as player transactions. Goaltender Gordon Defiel is expected to start this weekend's games, after a week of practice that followed a road trip against Macon.

Friday is a "90's Theme Night" at the Bay Center, while Saturday presents the popular Wiener Dog races between periods.

The Ice Flyers produced the most shots on goal of any SPHL team (1,124) and allowed the fewest (885), which is one of the reasons they have overcome a lot of player movement this season and maintained a first-place lead.

UWF Baseball picked No. 7 in South Region poll

The UWF baseball team was ranked No. 7 in its region in the preseason National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II South Region poll.

“I just think that it’s nice to see that people think we’re in the mix for it this year,” said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat. “We hope we are. The region is good. The top seven teams go [to the South Region tournament], and we hope we can be in those top seven. It starts with Game One, and hopefully we can play consistently throughout the year to get there.”

Delta State was No. 1 in the South Region, followed by Tampa, a team UWF will host in Pensacola on Feb. 17. Nova Southeaster, West Alabama and Florida Southern, the team UWF faces in its season opener next weekend, are in the top five of the region.

No. 10-ranked UWF swim team closes out home schedule Saturday

The 10th-ranked UWF swimming and diving team will host Georgia Southern on Saturday in the final home meet of the season at the UWF Aquatic Center.

Seniors Danica Burnett, Madison Gilbert, Sophia Oliva, Madeline Pitt and Grace Sommerville will be honored in a pre-meet ceremony. The group has combined for 17 All-America honors in their careers, six All-New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference nods, and six NSISC Scholar Athlete awards.

Georgia Southern edged out UWF by 21.5 points in a multi-team meet back in November. Saturday's swim meet starts at 11 a.m.